Love Is Blind, but It's Still There
by ibelieveinthegreenlight
Summary: The story returns as a newly fied version. Rated K   for now
1. Mistake

Love is blind, but it's there

Human Transmutation is one of the things frowned upon within the community of Alchemy. As the law of equivalent exchange states: In order to obtain something, something of equal value must be given. There are no exceptions. Sadly, I know this rule for a fact.

As a child, my father had studied Alchemy. He was one of the most well known Alchemists in our town. Everyone came to him form help and he was always happy to give it. He tried to teach me the basics of Alchemy when I was just six, but that didn't work out so well. On Many occations, I did try to do simple Alchemy, which I have successfly done about half the time, but I have never exceded beyond page 200 in my father's books

I was twleve when my father passed away. I came home from the market place one day to find my father's body on the floor of his workplace. I cried many hours before I had called someone about what had happened. A tall man named Mustang had came and disposed of the carcass as I continued to cry. He had been a good friend of my father's for the longest time. I remember him from the rare times he would stay for dinner and we'd play games, but not enough to be reliable on him.

In times like these It didn't matter what the relationship was you had with the one person willing to help you. All that matters is that you know that they're a good person at heart for even offering. Colonial Mustang had offered to take me in the day he took the carcass of my dead father off. That very day, he signed the papers to legally be my guardian. (Why he took me in, I don't know.) He looked at me and told me that I had two days to pack up my stuff. He left the neighbors in charge of me while he went back to town to do his work. I was left in my house. Alone. That was Colonial Mustang's first, only, and biggest mistake.


	2. Meeting

_I have A new Idea for this whole story. I have changed the ages in the story to fit the new changes, which you have no idea about so that is a good thing. Now you ALL can be surprised on what is better then the first. _

Two days was all I had and all I needed. The instructions we're complicated and the supplies was not easy to find in my father's workshop, but I found them all and I did what was listed on the paper. With the ingredients measured in grams, this would (as I thought) would be easy.

I sliced my finger with a knife and I set it in a little ceramic bowl by the circle. I followed all the instructions in the book very carefully while I recited the words in the book and the next thing I remember was a flash of lightning and then everything went black.

_"Maria...Maria!"_ I woke up to the sound of the Colonel. I felt shaking and I heard yelling, but I couldn't see anything. His voice was a little hazy and fuzzy, but eventually it became clear. "Maria, Can you hear me?" I blinked my eyes twice and nodded 'yes' I turned my head both ways. I still couldn't see anything. "Colonel, could you please turn on the lights?" I asked. "It's really dark in here."

I didn't feel him move or breath for what seemed like five minutes. It scared me a little,then he finally began to speak. "Maria, The lights are on and it's daylight outside." I didn't move. I didn't blink. I even think that I stopped breathing for a while. I didn't know how to explain my vision failing me, but I knew for a fact the Colonel did. Eventually, after moving into town with Colonel Mustang, He explained to me the process of which I had tried to do. Human Transmutation.

I didn't cry when he told me, I didn't fight back, or ask for help. From then on out, I carried a great feeling of stupidity. I lost my sight on my own and I had did it in the worst way possible.

Everyday I repeated what Colonel Mustang said to me the day he told me about Human Transmutation. I remembered the whole conversation that day and everyday it haunts me.

_"Human Transmutation is not something to be toyed with. Maria, You lost your sight because of the Law of Equivalent Exchange."_

_"I know about the Law. I did have something to exchange. I slit my finger and I put some of my blood in the bowl."_

_"No Maria, That was not enough for Human Transmutation. That was the reason you lost your sight. You didn't have enough to exchange to bring your father back."_

_"My Father! IS HE OKAY?"_

_"Maria, Your father is dead. You can't bring him back. What you did bring back was not your father. We had to dispose of it."_

I didn't hear the rest of this conversation because I was too embarrassed and sad to listed to the rest of it before I ran out the door. The last thing I wanted to hear was the mistake I had made bringing a homunculus back. I just kept running. I ran to my room and locked the door. I ran to my (very very little, but still considered a) closet. I pushed back all the clothing on the hangers and crawled inside. I closed the door and locked it behind me. I never wanted to come out. I wanted to be left alone. I didn't want to see the world ever again. At the time, I felt as if this world didn't need a worthless blind child who has forever lost her muse to do Alchemy, the one thing that was my memory of her father.

**Two Years Later**

I woke up on the right side of my bed to see the same thing I see everyday, Darkness. I have gotten use to it over the years, and I've been able to develop my own unique way of getting around the office and the town. Colonel Mustang had helped me build canes the make sound on the ground the echo and bounce off the walls. I have used them for almost everywhere I go and have no problems.

I haven't used Alchemy since the day I've lost my eyesight. I haven't thought about it, or talked about it. I stopped Alchemy cold turkey. The Colonel has encouraged me to practice, but I always find an excuse not to.

One day, Colonel Mustang had approached me with something that seemed to be very important. He seemed very serious and relaxed when he spoke, but I could tell he was just working hard.

"Cottingham, You need to come with me." he said. He was stern and calm. I learned from over the years what was going to happen by the tones of his voice. This tone was not in panic mode, or stuttering, he was normal.

"Why Sir?" I had asked him. I didn't really know what was going on at the time, but from the recent talking, I think he needed some help.

"I would like you to meet some comrades of mine." He said. "I know you three would get along really well." He walked up behind me and took my shoulder to guide me to his office. I didn't have to use my sticks while he was around to help me, but sometimes, it did bother me to be followed around like that. I never liked feeling like I had too big of a problem that I couldn't move around on my own, but the Colonel loved to help me when I needed it.

We entered the office when the Colonel released his grip of my shoulder and walked left on the hard floor. I heard his shoes make taps on the floor as he walked over to his desk and sit down. "Ed, Al, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine. Maria, this is Edward and Alphonse."

"Hey there Mary. Nice to meet you. I'm Edward." Edward said to Maria who had extended her hand too far to the left. She accidentally his him in the chest instead.

"Oh, I'm sorry. And My name is Maria thank you." I said as Edward shook my hand with his automail arm. I stopped shaking and paused. I released her grip and began to move my hand up Ed's arm. He didn't seem to phased by it, but I think he felt strange with a stranger rubbing his arm.

"Edward...Edward Elrich...? The Fullmetal Alchemist?" I continued to moved my hand up and down admiring the automail arm of his. I didn't sound to excited by him, but it was an honor to meet the famous Alchemist who the Colonel can't stop talking about.

"Yep, that's me." He said pulling his arm back to his body. He touched my eyes with his automail being careful not to acknowledge the obvious. "And this is my brother Alphonse." he said as a sudden clatter had emerged breaking the silence in the room. A feeling of another person was in the room, but I know sensed something bigger.

"Hello Maria." a voice had said in an echoing voice. Alphonse extended his arm out for me too shake, but as I reached out, I didn't shake his hand. I repeated the process of feeling his arm, but as I felt further, I discovered that it was not just his arm, it was his whole body. He was covered in a suit of armor that was, and I assume, was much taller then Edward. I moved my hands across his chest armor to feel the width of it. Alphonse didn't move. He didn't breath. He just stood there, like he knew that this was going to happen.

_I have many many more ideas for this story, so this story will not end soon. Review your ideas in the comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Keep On Writing!_


	3. Misery

His hand and whole body felt of fine silver. I ran my hands on the head of armor to see if I could feel his face, but that was covered in armor too. Every surface of him was armor with no sign of skin showing. I came to only two conclusions to this: Either he is highly allergic to the sun, or he is really in to playing knights. I think that the second one is more predictable.

The Colonial walked up to me and took my hands off the armor. He held them like he did the day when he told me what I had done. Nothing will replace the feeling in my hands that day, but something about that armor was very intriguing. "Okay boys, Maria, You both have met. Now I have an assignment for the three of you." He released my hands and walked over to his desk. (The clank of his shoes made a different sound when he walked to his desk, So that's how I know.) Colonial opened his desk and and began to file through all of his papers. Edward walked up behind me and brushed my shoulder as he passed me. Alphonse walked behind me in his armor and stopped about six inches behind me. I smiled just a little before the Colonial began to speak again.

"Ed...Al...My mission for you and Maria is to track down these locations and do some investigating. I suspect another Alchemist has been up to no good again." Edward chuckled a little. He didn't sound happy in the tone of his voice.

"So, have you lost that much faith in us that you're now sending us on these puny missions now? Well, I see where we stand Colonial." I turned away from Edward and The Colonial and covered my ears really tight. I didn't want to hear what the Colonial was going to do to him. I might have not been here long, but I do know the rules, and rule one was NEVER EVER talk to the Colonial like that. Once, I talked back to the Colonial and He made me do several push-ups and sit-ups for many hours. I have learned my lesson that day, and I was never going to make that mistake again, but what surprised me about this, was that usually when someone talked to him like that, he would put them in their place, but with Edward, it was like one big joke.

"Then this mission would suit you perfectly then doesn't it? Pipsqueak mission for the Pipsqueak." He said. At that moment, I pictured the Colonial to have a this creepy smile on his face. I knew the many tones of Colonial Mustang, and this tone was called Sarcasm.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN! ARE YOU CALLING ME SHORT?" Edward and the Colonial went back and forth for what seemed to be forever and with each saying, it got funnier and funnier. I didn't laugh loud, but I did laugh a little. I didn't understand what was going on until Edward was getting upset, but then I figured it out. The Colonial was putting him in his place, but in a different way then he did to me. He was calling the great Full Metal Alchemist short, and with every comment, I was closer to falling on the floor laughing.

Alphonse surprised me by placing his large metal hand on my shoulder. I didn't jump, but it did take me a moment to figure out it was his. I turned to him and smiled, because that was all I could do. He lowered himself down to my level, since he was a freaking giant, and told me something. It added on to the Colonial and Edward's fight, so it only made me laugh harder.

"Don't worry. Brother always acts like this when anyone calls him short. This happens a lot between them." My cheeks puffed up trying to hold back the laughter, but it was too powerful for me to hold in anymore. I had let it out all at once. I was laughing so hard, that I had lost my balance and fell over. My canes fell out of my hand and I was on my back lying on the floor. My gut was hurting, but I didn't care. The Colonial did though. As soon as he saw that I had fell, he immediately stopped arguing with Edward and ran over to my side. He tried speaking to me, but with my loud and high pitched laughter, it was probably hard to get a word in edge wise.

"Maria! Are you alright? What happened?" He yelled over me. I couldn't say anything, because I couldn't breath. No air was coming to me, but I knew that was okay. I eventually stopped laughing and I calmed down enough to explain the The Colonial what had happened. He then helped me back up on my feet and handed me he blind canes that I had dropped. I grasped them tightly and soon enough I was okay, until Edward asked me a question that had sent me over the edge.

"Is there something wrong with your legs? Why do you need those canes?"

After those word broke the silence, I dropped the canes and ran. I didn't need them for where I was going, because after spending so much time in this building, I knew every turn, corner, and hallway down flat. I ran to the one person who I knew I could talk to at a time like this. I got to the room and placed my fingers on the small dots that read the name.

_Hawkeye, Riza_

I knocked three times on the door to let Hawkeye know who it was, she didn't hesitate to open the door and hug me like (and assuming I had one) my mother did. She placed her arm around me and let me into her room. I held on tight like she was going to fade away from me any moment. I felt her uniform through my gloves. The exact same uniform as mine. Same color, same brass buttons, same shape. It was the one thing that made us all the same.

Riza set me down on her bed and handed me a tissue. "What's wrong Maria? Did the colonial yell at you again? Where are your canes?" All these questions came out at once, but I liked it when she asked me questions. It made me feel important and I knew she cared. So I sat down and told her the story of my father that haunted me for years, until one famous Alchemist had brought that horrible memory back into my life.


End file.
